Group Conversations

Multi-agent structured discussions with moderator synthesis.

Overview

Group Conversations enable multiple agents to discuss a question. Each agent participates through its normal pipeline — agents are group-unaware by default. A GroupConversationService orchestrates the discussion through configurable phases.

Discussion Styles

Style	Flow	Best For
ROUND_TABLE	Opinion × N → Synthesis	Brainstorming, open-ended exploration
PEER_REVIEW	Opinion → Critique → Revision → Synthesis	Code review, document review
DEVIL_ADVOCATE	Opinion → Challenge → Defense → Synthesis	Risk assessment, stress-testing
DELPHI	Anonymous rounds → convergence → Synthesis	Forecasting, reducing groupthink
DEBATE	Pro → Con → Rebuttals → Judge	Trade-off analysis, comparisons
CUSTOM	Define your own phases	Any workflow

Quick Start (MCP)

# 1. Discover available styles
describe_discussion_styles

# 2. Create a group
create_group(
  name="Architecture Review",
  memberAgentIds="expert-1,expert-2,expert-3",
  memberDisplayNames="Backend Expert,Frontend Expert,DevOps Expert",
  moderatorAgentId="moderator-agent",
  style="PEER_REVIEW"
)

# 3. Run a discussion
discuss_with_group(groupId="<id>", question="Should we use microservices?")

Quick Start (REST)

# Create group config
curl -X POST /groupstore/groups \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Architecture Panel",
    "members": [
      {"agentId": "expert-1", "displayName": "Backend Expert", "speakingOrder": 1},
      {"agentId": "expert-2", "displayName": "Frontend Expert", "speakingOrder": 2}
    ],
    "moderatorAgentId": "moderator-agent",
    "style": "ROUND_TABLE",
    "maxRounds": 2
  }'

# Start discussion
curl -X POST /groups/<groupId>/conversations \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"input": "What is the best architecture for our new service?"}'

Member Roles

Some styles require specific roles:

Role	Used By	Purpose
DEVIL_ADVOCATE	DEVIL_ADVOCATE style	Argues against consensus
PRO	DEBATE style	Argues in favor
CON	DEBATE style	Argues against

create_group(
  name="Debate Panel",
  memberAgentIds="agent-a,agent-b",
  memberRoles="PRO,CON",
  moderatorAgentId="judge-agent",
  style="DEBATE"
)

Nested Groups (Group-of-Groups)

Members can be other groups. The sub-group runs its own discussion and its synthesized answer becomes the member's response.

# Create sub-groups
create_group(name="Team A", memberAgentIds="a1,a2", style="PEER_REVIEW")  → g1
create_group(name="Team B", memberAgentIds="a3,a4", style="DEBATE")       → g2

# Create meta-group with GROUP members
create_group(
  name="Tournament",
  memberAgentIds="g1,g2",
  memberTypes="GROUP,GROUP",
  moderatorAgentId="judge-agent",
  style="ROUND_TABLE"
)

Depth tracking prevents infinite recursion (eddi.groups.max-depth, default: 3).

Custom Phases

For full control, define phases directly:

{
  "name": "Custom Panel",
  "style": "CUSTOM",
  "phases": [
    {
      "name": "Independent Opinions",
      "type": "OPINION",
      "participants": "ALL",
      "turnOrder": "PARALLEL",
      "contextScope": "NONE"
    },
    {
      "name": "Peer Critique",
      "type": "CRITIQUE",
      "participants": "ALL",
      "targetEachPeer": true,
      "contextScope": "FULL"
    },
    {
      "name": "Final Synthesis",
      "type": "SYNTHESIS",
      "participants": "MODERATOR",
      "contextScope": "FULL"
    }
  ]
}

Phase Types

Type	Purpose
OPINION	Share perspective on the question
CRITIQUE	Review another member's response
REVISION	Revise own response based on feedback
CHALLENGE	Argue against consensus (devil's advocate)
DEFENSE	Defend position against challenges
ARGUE	Present argument for a side (debate)
REBUTTAL	Counter opposing arguments
SYNTHESIS	Moderator produces balanced conclusion

Context Scopes

Scope	What the agent sees
NONE	Only the question (independent)
FULL	All previous transcript entries
LAST_PHASE	Only the previous phase's entries
ANONYMOUS	Previous entries with speaker names removed
OWN_FEEDBACK	Only feedback addressed to this agent

Protocol Configuration

{
  "protocol": {
    "agentTimeoutSeconds": 60,
    "onAgentFailure": "SKIP",
    "maxRetries": 2,
    "onMemberUnavailable": "SKIP"
  }
}

Setting	Options	Default
agentTimeoutSeconds	Any positive integer	60
onAgentFailure	SKIP, RETRY, ABORT	SKIP
maxRetries	0+	2
onMemberUnavailable	SKIP, FAIL	SKIP

REST API

Method	Path	Description
POST	/groupstore/groups	Create group config
GET	/groupstore/groups	List group configs
GET	/groupstore/groups/{id}	Read group config
PUT	/groupstore/groups/{id}	Update group config
DELETE	/groupstore/groups/{id}	Delete group config
GET	/groupstore/groups/styles	List discussion styles
POST	/groups/{groupId}/conversations	Start discussion
GET	/groups/{groupId}/conversations/{id}	Read transcript
GET	/groups/{groupId}/conversations	List conversations
DELETE	/groups/{groupId}/conversations/{id}	Delete + cascade

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
describe_discussion_styles	Rich descriptions of all styles
list_groups	List group configs
read_group	Read group config
create_group	Create group (name, members, style, roles, types)
update_group	Update group config JSON
delete_group	Delete group config
discuss_with_group	Start discussion, return transcript
read_group_conversation	Read conversation transcript
list_group_conversations	List past discussions

Configuration

# application.properties
eddi.groups.max-depth=3    # Max recursion depth for nested groups